


One Glorious Day

by tinytardismilkshake



Category: Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: Gen, I would call it a fix-it but that's very subjective and you can see the warning, but all that changed is the tags so don't you worry, rewrite of Donna's ending, the doctor and donna are purely platonic, your local fic writer is A Fool and forgot the existence of the episode after Donna left
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-28
Updated: 2020-09-28
Packaged: 2021-03-07 16:33:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,216
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26690716
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tinytardismilkshake/pseuds/tinytardismilkshake
Summary: Donna won't survive very long if the Doctor doesn't wipe her memories, but she's come too far to go back now.
Relationships: Tenth Doctor & Donna Noble
Comments: 6
Kudos: 9





	One Glorious Day

**Author's Note:**

> I rewatched Season 4 of Doctor Who and right after I finished the finale I had to write this alternate ending. Prepare for feels!

Donna's mind was overwhelmed with too much consciousness crammed into one human mind. It hurt. She was thinking so much but she couldn't think at all. But despite it all, everything finally made sense. She knew what the Doctor saw in her, what he saw in the universe. She'd rather die than give it up.  
"Please don't send me back, I can't go back!" Donna pleaded with the Doctor as his hands approached her face.  
The Doctor hesitated. Both of them were crying. He lowered his hands. "You're dying, Donna. If I don't do this, you'll survive a day, at most, and it will be very painful."  
"But if you do this, I'll live the rest of my life believing I'm nothing more than a temp." Donna said.  
"You don't know that. You're important, and not just because you know me," said the Doctor.  
"I know that now, but I won't if you erase the past year and more. And what if I remember? I'll just die anyway, and you won't even be there." Donna looked at the wall, trying to stop the spinning.  
The Doctor looked at Donna intensely, guilt and savior complex all over his face. "Are you absolutely sure this is what you want?"  
"I'm sure," said Donna. "You don't get to decide when I die, and I'm choosing this."  
The Doctor took a moment to allow himself to brood. He stared into the distance with what Donna now recognized as the effects of years (centuries?) of unresolved trauma. Donna did not have time to think about that, but hopefully the Doctor would, someday.  
Then the Doctor perked up, bouncing toward the controls as if everything was fine, just like he always did. "Right then, so where to? One last adventure, we'd better make it a good one."  
"Oh, I know, we could go to the-" everything was a blur. Her memories and the Doctor's memories were combined and mismatched and for a moment she couldn't remember the name of her own planet. She tried to stay collected. "The planet of the hats. They might need saving from... the shoes."  
"Right, something lowkey then." The Doctor frowned. "Tell you what, I know of a planet where the sky is purple and the grass is soft like a fluffy blanket. We could go there, try the food, and enjoy the scenery."  
As much as Donna wanted to go out with a bang, she knew she wasn't up for a fast paced adventure. Slow and comfortable would have to do. "Sounds like sun. Fun. Sun. Uh-"  
"That's okay, I know what you mean. Try to relax, alright? You've earned a vacation." The Doctor entered the coordinates, and Donna looked away again so she wouldn't have to think about which levers he was pulling.  
As the TARDIS traveled, Donna sat and thought about how she wished she could have enjoyed all these extra smarts for longer. Maybe she was never meant to be more than a temp. But the Doctor's mind inside her reminded her that he really thought she was amazing. Not just because she traveled with him or because she was useful, but because she had inherent worth as a living being. She was Donna flipping Noble, and she so wished it hadn't taken a mind destroying metacrisis for her to realize that.  
Suddenly she felt a gentle touch on her shoulder. "Donna?" the Doctor said softly. "I said we're here. Can you stand?"  
Of course she could stand, why wouldn't- oh. That was a little more difficult than she expected. Her brain and body were on fire trying to focus on where her legs were in the midst of the storm in her head. "Yeah, I think I'll manage," she said, but she leaned on the arm the Doctor offered.  
They stepped out of the TARDIS into a little restaurant. The Doctor must have called in advance because there were two bags of food ready for them at the counter. The Doctor held the bags with his free hand and led Donna outside and further to an open field. They sat, and the Doctor unpacked the food.  
"Here, try this," he said, handing Donna a to-go container of some sort of pasta. "It's like spaghetti, but sweet instead of savory. Still just as filling though."  
"Like I'm going to need that," Donna laughed.  
"Gallows humor already? I thought this was a vacation!" The Doctor smiled good-naturedly, but there was sadness in his eyes.  
The two started eating their pasta. Donna concentrated on the texture of the ground - it really was soft like a winter blanket - and the motion of her fork navigating the meal. Her brain felt like an ocean, but right now instead of drowning, she was just bobbing up and down in the waves.  
"I'm getting a bit seasick," she said out loud.  
"How's that?" asked the Doctor.  
"The waves, you know." Donna gestured vaguely.  
"Mhm," said the Doctor, probably not understanding. "Anything I can do?"  
"Can you tell me a story?" Donna asked. "Something... to focus on."  
"Yeah, alright." The Doctor considered for a moment. "Remember the time we saw Agatha Christie, and you said that muder mystery going on around us was like meeting Charles Dickens surrounded by ghosts?"  
Donna nodded and resumed eating.  
"That actually happened to me once. I was with Rose Tyler, and-"  
So the Doctor told Donna that story. And one about cat nurses on New Earth. And one about meeting Shakespeare. Occasionally Donna was feeling like herself enough to add her signature quips, a "no flipping way" here, an "I bet you did, Spaceman" there. All the stories seemed vaguely familiar since she had the Doctor's memories, but hearing them told was much better.  
As the stories progressed, Donna became tired. She lay down on the soft ground facing the Doctor, and he lay down too as if this was a mutual casual rest. It was comforting, pretending this was just a slow day with more adventures coming tomorrow. She fought to stay awake because she didn't want to miss a moment.  
The sun was setting, and the Doctor had just finished a story. Donna hadn't really been able to follow it, but it was soothing to listen to the Doctor's voice. He stopped talking for a moment and looked at Donna with his intense, brooding stare.  
"It's okay, Donna," he said, reaching out to touch her hair. "You don't have to hold on for me."  
The touch was comforting, even though what he said reminded her of the truth. It was time to accept it. She had made her choice, and she didn't regret a thing.  
It occurred to her that she should try to have some last words. A nice goodbye for the Doctor to remember her by. She thought about this planet, about other planets she'd seen and ones she hadn't. She thought about her mum and grandad. The Doctor was like family to her too, in a way. In ancient Rome they'd been mistaken for siblings.  
"You were a good brother, Spartacus," she managed.  
He chuckled. Good, his brooding face wouldn't be the last thing she'd see.  
"And you were the best sister, Spartacus."  
Donna smiled. Her eyes were so heavy, and she finally let them close. Goodnight, Donna Noble.

**Author's Note:**

> I'm feeling sappy so I just want to say that you, yes you reading this, have inherent worth as a living being. Not because of who you know or what useful skills you have, but just for being you. That's what the Doctor would say, and that's what I'm telling you because I believe it. Thank you for reading this fic.


End file.
